The Hindu 28.09.2016
GIS to help you know about your property
It can inform people whether a land is located in residential area or not
VItal information:Details about properties in the Chennai metropolitan
area can be obtained on the CMDA site.— Photo: SPecIAL ARRANGEMENT
Nearly 12 years after it was proposed, a GIS-based
system to inform city residents about the classification of their
property — whether it is located in a residential zone or in a
prohibited area — has now been put in place, though it is currently on a
test run.
Visitors to the website of the city’s
planning agency, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority
—www.cmdachennai.gov.in— can click on the link leading to the system
based on the Geographical Information System. Land owners and also
prospective owners who seek additional details can key in details to
find out its classification. People who do not know the survey numbers
too can establish the details, sources said.
Details
about property in Chennai Metropolitan Area that is spread over 1,189
sq.km and which includes Chennai Corporation and 16 municipalities, 20
town panchayats and 214 village panchayats can be obtained on the site.
The metropolitan area includes part of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur
districts.
“Promoters
do not reveal details about the exact classification of the land in
which their plot is situated. People come to our head office in Egmore
or even apply through Right to Information Act. We wanted to share all
the information about Chennai’s land use in public domain and hence the
GIS,” explained staff of the city planning agency.
The
land classification details along with the survey number have been
superimposed on Google Earth map, making it possible for people to find
about the status immediately. “There are several restricted areas – land
belonging to the Defence Ministry, notified areas by the Archaeological
Survey of India, Reserved Forests, Water bodies, Coastal Regulatory
Zone and others in addition to land earmarked for development projects,”
a staff said, adding that people could easily cross-check in the GIS if
the property they want to buy came under any of this classification.
Evolving
an urban information with various departments, beginning with the
creation of a “common base map” was planned as early as 2004. It was
proposed that GIS would lead to faster access to data. Sources said some
of them were trained in a post-graduate course in GIS and a dedicated
team was on the job for many years before actual work began about 30
months ago, the first among any planning agency in the country.